Title: When I Talk To You
Author: Lady of the Ink
Pairing: V/H
Category: Suspense/Romance, with some good angst thrown in for flavor.
Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne, but you knew that. I hope. But I do own this story and all the plot twists it contains.
Dedication: To all the reviewers who have taken the time to read this, and tell me what they thought.

Chapter Seven
I'm Still the Same

Yukari Uchida tensed as the sound of footsteps closed in on her from behind. "Oh, man, oh, man, oh, man, oh, man, oh, man!" she chanted under her breath. Judging by the loudness of the shuffling steps, there wasn't enough time for her to run. Taking a deep breath, she braced herself for the worst.

Whatever she'd been expecting, it certainly wasn't the rotund little man barreling through the thick undergrowth. Small glasses were perched on his bulbous red nose and he had a large pack slung over his shoulder. He was mumbling something to himself, his words too low for her to make out.

For a moment, she thought she'd be lucky and he'd trundle past without noticing her. At the last second, however, he stopped, his nose twitching before turning to face her. She whimpered to herself as he stepped closer, looking her over from head to toe.

"A pretty girl in the forest?" He asked in a high-pitched, singsong-ing voice. "Lucky day, lucky day." When he took another step forward, Yukari couldn't hold in her squeak of fear. It seemed to startle the man into stillness.

For a long moment, he remained motionless, just looking at her. This soon became worse than his advancing, as visions of every possible thing he could do to her flashed through her mind. As far as she knew, there was no one else for miles to hear her if she screamed.

As her gaze darted over his shoulder, looking for anything to help her out of this situation, she saw the sky again, which just made things worse. It reminded her that she was a long, long way away from everything she was familiar with. For all she knew, this man could be the only other person on this entire planet. That thought sank in, and Yukari could feel the blood drain from her face.

The last thing she heard was the man's puzzled question before she slipped into unconsciousness.

"Why do they always do that?"

Corey lay on the thick feather tick, thinking he would never fall asleep, despite its comfort. How could this have happened? To lose Hitomi when they were so close . . . It was almost unbearable. He would never forgive himself if something happened to her while she was wherever she was. As much as it irked him to admit it, even to himself, she might have been better off staying at the Institute. At least then she would have been safe.

He sighed and flipped over onto his side. It was going to be a long couple of hours until dawn . . .

He stood on a hill that overlooked a forest. The light was dim, heaving clouds making the sky look too heavy to keep its distance from the ground. A chill wind sliced through him, its sharp gusts invisible knives thrown by the angry gods. The trees' leaves were being whipped back and forth by the blasts of air until they took flight, twirling their way into the distance.

Corey turned his head, trying to figure out what was going on. The last thing he remembered was being in bed . . .

He froze, instantly alert. Was this another vision? If so, it was certainly a lot different from the first. What could this be trying to tell him? His last thoughts were of Hitomi, so maybe this was about her.

As that thought came to him, he tried to step forward and get a better view of his surroundings, but something stopped him. Namely the fact that his feet seemed stuck to the ground. He tugged sharply, but they wouldn't budge.

"Okaaaaay," he drawled to himself. "No moving allowed, apparently. So how am I supposed to learn whatever it is that I'm meant to know? Am I just supposed to stand around and feel helpless?"

Thunder boomed through the heavens, the sound so loud he could feel the vibrations to his bones. He shuddered. "I'll take that as a no." Knowing there wasn't much else he could do, Corey swept his eyes over what little land he could see.

Time and again his gaze was drawn to the deepest section of the forest. A sense of familiarity assailed him as he peered into the foliage. Someone was there, someone he knew.

"Hitomi?" he whispered, trying to reach out to her, hoping she would come to him as she had in his other vision. But there was nothing except silence and a feeling of desperation. "Note to self," Corey muttered, still struggling to see anything through the green barrier, "search the forest."

The sarcasm infusing the statement made him feel a little better, even though no one was there to hear it. The vision wasn't really telling him anything he didn't already know. Fanelia was a tree filled country; of course he'd planned on searching the woods!

The ground beneath him began to tremble and shift. He flung his arms out, trying in vain to regain his balance. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I take it back! I didn't mean it!"

Whatever was controlling the vision was not appeased. The ground cracked open with a hiss and an eruption of steam. Suddenly, Corey found himself falling, tumbling head over heels until he couldn't tell up from down. He quickly regretted the mental complaint about being stuck to the ground.

There was nothing but blackness around him, no sensation except that of falling and the wet slither of the steam that still surrounded him. That old question kept running through his mind over and over again. If you die in your dream, do you die in real life?

As he pondered that thought in an I-don't-want-to-die kind of way, he became aware of something intruding on the blanketing silence. It was a well-known sound, but so faint, it was hard to make out. It became slightly louder, and it hit him, both what the sound was, and what it stood for.

It was the ticking of a clock, and it could only mean that time, for someone, was running out. Corey struggled to breathe through the thick, fear-caused lump filling his throat. If that clock was ticking for Hitomi, and she was back on Earth . . .It was worse than knowing Van and Merle were in trouble, because this time, there was no one to blame but himself. If he had just left Hitomi where she was . . .

That thought was cut off as a vicious gust of air from below tossed him into another spin. As he was whirling, the darkness around him seemed to form a picture. He saw Hitomi, laying on her side, one hand resting under her cheek. A small scratch marred her forehead, but there seemed to be nothing else wrong. She looked as though she were only sleeping.

Try as he might, he couldn't make out any details of the background; no hints were obvious as to her location. But he was slightly relieved that she seemed to be okay for the time being. That was something, at least.

The spinning stopped with that thought, and the vision of Hitomi melted back into the darkness like wisps of smoke. His mind was already forming a plan of attack for the next day's search. They could round up some other people, then fan out to search the area. With enough help, they could cover most of the forest by noon.

Brilliant yellow lightning flashed through the darkness, almost blinding him with its intensity. Cringing, he flung up his arms to cover his eyes as the air around him crackled with electricity. "I'll take that as an emphatic 'No' to that suggestion. Was it to the searching part," he paused. Nothing but dead silence. "or was it about asking for help?"

Another burst of lightning flared brightly through his closed eyes. "Okay, so no help. If you were going to cut down the number of people searching, you could have at least shown me something a little more helpful, you know!" He screamed into the darkness. There was no response except the unseen clock, which resumed its ticking.

Then even that faded, and he knew there'd be no more help that night.

Corey hopped from bed the moment he awakened. He knew what he had to do, and he didn't want to waste any time getting to it. As he slipped from the room, the first light of dawn was barely breaking over the horizon. He bumped into Van in the hall, and they nodded to each other before silently making their way downstairs, only to find Merle had beaten them both.

Following the sound of muttering, they entered the study where she was carefully packing bundles with water and food. She knew that once they began searching, neither would want to return for the midday meal, no matter how hungry they were. Corey began to speak as soon as he was fully in the room, starting as though adding on to an ongoing conversation.

"As eager as we all are to find Hitomi, I don't think it's a good idea to involve any of the locals. Even if she saved Gaea, she's still from the Mystic Moon, and from what she told me, that makes a lot of people uncomfortable. I have a feeling that the three of us should be the only ones to know that she may be out there. And don't ask me how I know this, but I think she's okay for now, wherever she is." He saw the questioning looks pass over both his companions faces, but he ignored them. He wasn't sure he understood how he knew what he knew; he sure wasn't going to try and explain it to them.

When he remained silent for a long moment, Merle spoke up. "We should split up, and each search for as long as we can. We'll meet back here at nightfall, or whenever we're too tired to keep looking." The glare she leveled at Van said she was talking to him, and he'd better be listening.

"Where's the nearest hill? You know, one that's tall enough to see a good distance from?" Corey asked, keeping his eyes downcast.

Merle looked at him oddly as Van answered. "There's one not too far from town. It's fairly tall, but you really can't see much from it. Just a chunk of the forest."

"How do I get to it from here?" Van quickly gave him directions as he picked up one of the packs. Unable to rein in her curiosity, Merle asked,

"Is there any special reason you asked?"

Corey remained silent for a long moment, picking up his own bag. When he spoke, his voice was quiet, but steady. "Let's just say I have a feeling there's something there I need to see."

"Hitomi?" Van asked, looking hopeful.

"I'm not sure, but I don't think so. I think I would know if it was her. This felt . . . familiar, but not like her. If that makes any sense." He shrugged his shoulders. "This stuff is all a little new to me. I'm just going with the flow." At the two confused faces in front of him, he almost smiled. "Letting Fate take me where it will."

They nodded, and the three set off on their search, each hoping for the best, but knowing, deep down, that it wasn't going to be easy.

Next Chapter: No Need To Pretend